Terminator Franchise

[ShyViolet]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34867


I love all the Terminator movies, yes, even part III. (not as good, but quite a decent follow-up)

(I actually thought Nick Stahl was awesome, but I'm very excited to see what Bale could bring to the role.)

EDIT:


Oh well, it's McG who's directing....ummm....OK. I'll give it a chance since I LOVE Terminator. (I really wish James Cameron were coming back but I read that he pretty much disassociated himself with the films after part 2.)

I also hope that there's more substance this time around as well as cool time-warp paradox stuff, my favorite aspect of part III.

Also, I doubt Clare Danes will be in this one....she was a last-minute replacement in part III.


Original title: The ongoing TERMINATOR franchise!!

[Daniel]

Wow, Vi is exited!

Good news about Christain Bale! McG, well... meh.

With T3, I somewhat agree. It was a decent follow-up, but with a few differences, it was basically a T2 rehash. I suppose my favorite aspect was the female villain, I liked her more than the T2 guy!

[Ben]

The Terminator story ended with Cameron's part 2. That was the whole point!

BUT...Hollywood is Hollywood, and 3 wasn't bad, just a little pointless. Some good action, but they really didn't have anywhere to take it. Apparently Mostow had a plan for 3, 4 and 5, but I guess he's off and his ideas aren't being used.

Seems like they're going around in circles. The script must be good because Bale is a very good actor who picks his parts carefully. This is a very odd choice for him, so there must be some good ideas in there to make him even consider this.

Looks the guy has his head stuck on...as well as Batman it wouldn't hurt to have another franchise at his calling, meaning he can get all the smaller, better films he wants to make made. He's a perfect fit for Connor, and my level of interest in these new Terminator films just shot up a notch.

Mark my words, when he's done with Bats and even this series (they're looking at three new Terminator movies) he will become the next James Bond at some stage. He's a little too young looking right now, but give it five/ten years...

[ShyViolet]

The Terminator story ended with Cameron's part 2. That was the whole point!

Yeah, that was a little odd, like, "Rise of the Machines"???
Didn't they burn the final chip? Didn't they stop the war from happening? Much as I enjoyed III, it just makes everything in 2 feel so unnecessary. (Or is that the other way around? )

In a way, I think each film reflected the political climate of its time.

Part 1: 1984, Cold War, preparing at the end of the film for the coming war.
Part 2: 1991 Post fall of Soviet Union, post Cold War, we can all live in peace now, etc....
Part 3: 2003 post 9-11, there's a war coming whether you want to face it or not.....


I guess what I liked most about III was the uncertain ending and not the "everything is totally solved at the end" which I thought was a little "pat" in part 2. I never completely bought that they stopped the war just by destroying the chips and the two Terminators because how do they know that some remnant or fragment didn't survive? And what about all the people who witnessed what happened? Wouldn't their knowledge impact the future in some way?

With T3, I somewhat agree. It was a decent follow-up, but with a few differences, it was basically a T2 rehash. I suppose my favorite aspect was the female villain, I liked her more than the T2 guy!

Yeah, she was pretty scary! Loved Clare Danes: "Just die already, you b****!"

[EricJ]

Yeah, that was a little odd, like, "Rise of the Machines"???
Didn't they burn the final chip? Didn't they stop the war from happening? Much as I enjoyed III, it just makes everything in 2 feel so unnecessary. (Or is that the other way around? )

Well, that's just it (as I suffer the eternal futility of trying to point out, every time we get a "Wow, T4!" thread on some forum):

T3 wasn't a "real" Terminator movie--
Carolco productions went bankrupt after "Showgirls" and "Cutthroat Island", and all the property names went up for auction. (Anyone remember that "Total Recall" Showtime series, that had absolutely nothing to do with Arnold?)

Enter "C2 Films", which bought up all the intellectual-property Carolco name rights, and hoped not only to dazzle us with the "story continuing" in T3, but...the sexy steamy return of Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct 2"!
Okay, now we know what happened to C2 Films.

As the auction hammer came down again, the Halcyon Company--aided by the rather suspiciously named "T Asset Acquisition Company"--was now the lucky owner of both the T4 specs (now with the hopes of making it a "continuing series" of Wartime stories, after disguising the "4" with "episode titles"), and Fox's "Sarah Conner Chronicles"...All you need is cash!

(And yeah, the "unofficial" T3 did feel like a deliberate Mutiny on the Fanboy takeover, where James Cameron had been spanked and sent to his room by the "We wanna see robot wars!" fans, for ending the story peacefully:
"Now you just march yourself off to your blast shelter and stay there, young man, and let's hear no more of this 'No fate' and 'Senator John Conner' nonsense!")

[ShyViolet]

"Now you just march yourself off to your blast shelter and stay there, young man, and let's hear no more of this 'No fate' and 'Senator John Conner' nonsense!")

Ha ha! Very true.


Also, one question that hasn't even been brought up is:


Will the actual, original Terminator return? The Governator??

[Daniel]

Yup, for a 30 second cameo, last I heard. Too bad its not more, but its better than nothing!

Also, I heard there's going to be connection between this and the new TV series - Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles - that's going to debute next month on Fox. I've seen promos and its looks good!

[Once Upon A Dream]

Sounds... werid,but nice .

[Ben]

Hate to point something you missed out again Eric, but C2 Films was an extension of Carolco. What did you think the C was for in C2? Corolco 2. The same execs put together a new consortium to buy back their own rights!

<I>THEN</I> they went bust (again)!

So T3, while not Cameron endorsed, is a true Terminator movie, from the exact same people who made 2. If anything the <I>first</I> Terminator movie is the odd one out...an independent film made by Hemdale.

None of the Terminator films have been made by the same producers apart from shared names on 2 and 3.

Cameron actually wanted out of the series...he wasn't sent to his room. He ended T2 with a coda showing old Sarah Connor watching her grandkids playing in a park, so show the war had never happened. This was cut from the theatrical prints but reinstated for his Director's Cut.

Which goes to show that the story ended, rightfully, at the end of T2.

[EricJ]

Hate to point something you missed out again Eric, but C2 Films was an extension of Carolco. What did you think the C was for in C2? Corolco 2. The same execs put together a new consortium to buy back their own rights!

<I>THEN</I> they went bust (again)!.

Well, I knew C2 = Carolco2, with ambitions accordingly, just thought the name was somebody else's wishful thinking.

And yes, Cameron did want to go out with "Sen. Conner" and his daughter--
That was the whole point, about how T3 seemed like an artificial fanboy tantrum kicking-and-screaming against the happy ending...
Sarah's offscreen writeoff ("'No fate', yeah, right!") even seems like a particularly vindictive "Nyah, take that, we're doing the cool robot wars anyway, and you can't stop us now if you've left the series, Jim!"

[Ben]

I don't think I understood a word of what you just said.

[EricJ]

Translation:
Okay, so the "new" writers/directors couldn't get Linda Hamilton back...Did they have to kill off Sarah offscreen with such snide "Look, she wrote 'No fate'--Thought she could stop the war...Yuk yuk, what a maroon!" condescension?

The fanboys kept waiting for the War to start, so they could see Cool Post-Apocalyptic Robots Shooting Each Other, since before T2 came out--
And with Cameron "out of the way", and the lunatic-fanboys running the asylum, T3 came off like the Republican congress after the election:
"Yay, at last we're in charge!--Now it's time to push our Cool Robot War agenda and wipe ALL our enemies off the map!"
(This movie slaps you in the face and dares you to think Conner being forcefully locked in the shelter, while the Terminators go ahead and start the war anyway, isn't really "supposed" to be a metaphor for the producers' hopes. Go ahead. Just TRY.)

IMO, it's Cameron's baby, and if King Cameron says it ended happily ever after, that's the commandment carved on the tablets, End of Story.
Get your Cool Post-Apocalyptic Robots Shooting Each Other ELSEWHERE, guys.

[eddievalient]

I, for one, am excited by this. The first two Terminator films rank among my all time favorites and the third wasn't bad (not great, but enjoyable). The Sarah Conner Chronicles looks like a good show and with this news it looks like the next couple of years are gonna be great for the fans. Call it fanfic or whatever you want, but I love The Terminator and I'm glad we're gonna be getting more of it.

[Ben]

Eric...okay, gotcha now, thanks!

[Dacey]

Okay, they're planning not one, but THREE new films?!?! That's a bit of a gamble, isn't it?